When most people think of speech therapy, they often picture helping a child pronounce certain sounds or learn how to speak. While those are common reasons to seek care, speech therapy can help individuals of all ages with a wide range of communication, swallowing, feeding, voice, and cognitive concerns.
At Altru, speech therapist Hannah works with patients across the lifespan to improve their quality of life, independence, and ability to communicate with confidence. Here are eight conditions that may benefit from speech therapy in Devils Lake.
Stroke or Brain Injury
Recovering from a stroke or any brain injury can be complicated and include multiple therapies during recovery. Hannah works with patients on improving swallow function, speech pattern and clear speaking, and cognitive abilities such as memory and simple understanding. Through personalized treatment plans, patients can regain skills and improve their independence.
Speech Sound Production
Difficulty producing certain speech sounds, lisps, difficulty being understood by others, apraxia (speech coordination), slurred speech, and clarity of speech, phonological and articulation disorders are all areas that can be worked on during speech therapy. This may include working on correct sound production, sound patterns, and correct placement for various sounds. Including play therapy with pediatric patients while working on using correct placement helps form the right sound while having fun.
Alternative Means of Communications
Individuals with conditions such as stroke, severe language delays, autism, ALS, and Parkinson's disease may use alternative forms of communication to interact with others. When developing these communication skills, individuals may use functional forms of communication beyond spoken language to express their wants, needs, thoughts, and ideas.
Assistive communication methods and devices can be used with or without technology, including picture boards, sign language, head nods, gestures, photographs, and tablet-based communication apps.
Language Disorders
Children and adults can experience multiple language difficulties that can affect their ability to communicate. In children, developmental language disorders may affect understanding and/or use of language, including difficulty learning new words, forming sentences, following directions, answering questions, or communicating wants and needs.
Adults may experience language difficulties following a stroke or brain injury, such as difficulty finding words, understanding language, or forming sentences. Language and cognitive-communication changes can also occur with neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Difficulty knowing what you want to say but being unable to get the words out, difficulty understanding what others are saying, and difficulty organizing thoughts into clear messages are all areas that can benefit from speech therapy. Therapy can focus on improving functional communication, word finding, comprehension, vocabulary, sentence formulation, and the ability to express thoughts and needs.
Feeding Difficulties
Feeding challenges can affect people of all ages, from infants struggling with breastfeeding or bottle feeding to adults recovering from a stroke or traumatic brain injury. Gagging in children, choking at any age, delayed start of solid foods in young children, concerns with eating following a stroke or TBI (coughing, eyes watering, or throat clearing), and advancing diets that may include feeding tubes are all situations that may benefit from speech therapy. Training the muscles in the mouth and throat takes special training that Hannah works closely on with each patient to reach their individual goals.
Pragmatic/Social Language
Acclimating to any social situation, whether it’s a new concept or a new environment, can be a challenge. Speech therapy can help address understanding social cues, struggles with taking turns, topic maintenance, inferencing, repairing a communication breakdown, and starting/ending conversations appropriately.
Chronic Cough
A cough can linger for several reasons, even when you are seemingly no longer ill. It typically lasts longer than eight weeks and can have several different causes. Working with Hannah can help identify factors contributing to a chronic cough and develop strategies to help manage and potentially resolve that stubborn cough.
Vocal Cord Dysfunction
If you feel like you are struggling to get air even when your lungs and airway are otherwise okay, your vocal cords could be contributing to the problem. Vocal cord dysfunction can cause a feeling of difficulty breathing and may be triggered by exercise, stress, irritants, or other factors.
During speech therapy in Devils Lake, Hannah will work with you to identify and manage triggers as well as practice breathing exercises and strategies to help improve breathing.
Speech therapy can help address a wide range of communication, swallowing, feeding, voice, and cognitive concerns. Whether you're recovering from an illness or injury, managing a chronic condition, or supporting your child's development, personalized therapy can help you reach your goals.
To schedule an appointment with Hannah for Speech Therapy in Devils Lake, call 701.665.5260.